Grass valley



(No Model.)

G. W. STARR & R. M; KINLEY.

CONGENTRATOR.

Patented Oct. 16, 1888.

fill, Illltlllllll NETED STATES GEORGE XV. STARR AND RICHARD M. KINLEY, OF GRASS VALLEY.

CALIFORNIA.

CONCENTRATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 391,341, dated October 16, 1888.

Application filed August 13, 1887. Serial Nail-16,909. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, GEORGE W. STARR and RICHARD M. KINLEY, of Grass Valley, Nevada county, State of California, have invented an Improvement in Concentrators; and We hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

Our invention relates to that class of eoucentrators which employ an endless traveling belt upon which the ore is fed, together with water, which carries the lighter and waste particles down with it, while the heavier and precious particles or sulphurets cling to the belt and are carried up by it and washed off in a tank underneath.

Our invention consists in the constructions and combinations of devices which we shall hereinafter fully describe and claim.

The object of our invention is to discharge the s'ulphurets before the belt reaches the usual washing -tank. The objection to the usual method of letting them pass into said tank is that owing to the agitation in the tank caused by the passage of the belt and its shaking supplementary movement, and by the use of the hoe employed in drawing the sulphurets out an immense loss of f ne sulphurets is sustained, the finer particles floating away in spite of all efforts to save them; but by the use of our discharger all the sulphurets, both coarse and fine, are precipitated into the re ceiving-box, where they will not be disturbed, and in which they can be handled without loss or conducted in distributing-pipes to the dry-room, where a large reception-tank may be built, thus saving the labor of one man.

Referring to the accompanying drawings for a more complete explanation of our invention, Figure 1 is a perspective View of one end of a concentrator, showing the application of our invention. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same, showing the application of the discharger.- Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the discharger. Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of the same. Fig. 5 is a cross-section of same.

Though our invention is applicable to any form of endless-belt concentrator we have here shown it in connection with a concentrator of an ordinary type, the essential parts of which are the bed-frame A, the iron frame B, the

shaking belt-frame C, the endless belt D, which travels in the direction indicated by the arrows, and the water and pulp distributers represented generally by E.

F is a piece or strip, which may be made of any suitable material adapted to the particular material of the belt employed in the coneentrator, and which, on account of the almost universal use of rubber belts in this connection, is preferably made of a piece of rubber, so that in its contact with the belt it will not injure it or be injured. This strip or piece is secured along the top edge of a body-piece, G, the upper end of which is provided with a curved seat, g, Fig. 5, in which the rubber strip is placed and secured, so that itis given a curve in cross-section, as shown in said figure, the curve being for the purpose of making it conform to the curve of the belt D, so that said belt in its travel will have no tendency to carry the rubber piece down with it.

To the back of the body-piece G are secured cleats H, which are provided with sockets h, through which binding-rods I pass, the ends of said rods projecting and being riveted in the lower ends of hangers or rods J, the upper ends of which are screw-threaded, as shown in Fig. 4. It will be seen that the body-piece G and the rubber strip F, which it carries, may be adjusted laterally by sliding on the bindingrods 1, and therefore may be readily removed from said rods when required. The upper ends of the rods J pass through the belt-frame C of the machine and receive nuts j on their upper ends, whereby they may be vertically adjusted, and said rods are not in the way of other parts of the machine, as they may take the place of bolts, which are usually in that position. The body-piece G, with its rubber strip F, is thus suspended by the rods J under the end of the belt, and the upper edge of said rubber piece comes in contact with the belt as it travels by it, and its contact may be accurately adjusted by the vertical adjustment due to the hangers J and the nutsj on their tops. The ends of the transversely-arranged rubber strip are within the flanges of the belt D, and the lateral adjustment, heretofore referred to, accurately regulates its position in this respect, for by having the body-piece G so susrco pended that it may be moved sidewise the rubber strip F, when first hung up, may be primarily adjusted and then kept in place across the whole width of the belt, with its ends between the belt-flangesr K is a water-pipe passing across the end of the machine and perforated throughout its length, so that it may play upon the belt on a line just in advance of the line of contact of said belt With the rubber strip F. The water pipe K is connected suitably with the waterservice of the machine, and it is supported by means of rods k, the lower ends of which are attached to the ends of a receiving-box, L, as shown in Fig. l.

The operation of the machine is as follows: The ore is fed upon the upper surface of the belt and a stream of water is also directed thereon, the effect of which is to carry down the inclined belt the lighter and worthless particles, while the heavier and precious particles or sulphurets cling to the surface of the belt and are carried up by it to its upper end. Ordinarily in this class of machines they continue to cling to the belt until they are washed off in a tank of water placed under the machine, and through which the belt passes. NVith our attachment, however, all the sulphurets are discharged from said belt by the contact of the rubber strip therewith, with the assistance of the stream of Water from the pipe K, so that, instead of passing around with the belt into the underlying tank, they fall down into the receiving-box L, and may be handled readily, as we have heretofore described. The particular construction, arrangement, and adjustnient of the several parts enable us to accnrately apply and operate the attachment to the best advantage.

We are aware that it is not new to brush or scrape ofl the sulphurets from the end of the traveling belt of a concentrator, as this has been attempted by means of a rotating brush and by means of a scraper. We do not, therefore, claim such broadly, but confine ourselves to our particular discharger, curved toconform to the direction of the belt and made of rubber for rubber belts, and suitably suspended and adjusted.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In aconcentrator, the end of an endlesstraveling belt, a curved stripor piece arranged transversely in contact with the end of the belt, and a body-piece, to which the curved strip is attached, said body-piece having socketed cleats on its back, in combination with rods or hangers suspended from the beltframe, and transverse rods secured to said hangers and seated in the cleats of the bodypiece, whereby said body-piece and curved strip may be adjusted laterally, substantially as described.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

G. \V. STARR. R. M. KINLEY. 

